15 July General Affairs Council

FOUR EU member states defended the European Commission’s decision to impose provisional (six-month) anti-dumping duties on unbleached cotton from China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Turkey, despite a concerted protest by eight countries. The UK, Germany, the Netherlands and five other Union governments described the Commission’s decision as “regrettable”, and said it ignored the wishes of most member countries. But France, Italy, Spain and Portugal said that the Commission had “carried out the procedure in an excellent manner”. It appears likely, however, that a simple majority of EU states will block Commission proposals to impose five-year duties, expected in September or October.

European Voice

7/15/98, 5:00 PM CET

Updated 4/12/14, 3:36 AM CET

EU FOREIGN affairs ministers affirmed their ‘written procedure’ decision of last week to ban senior Belarussians, including hardline President Alexander Lukashenko, from entering the Union, in protest at the expulsion of their ambassadors last month. Minsk had ordered the ambassadors to leave a diplomatic housing complex in Drozdy, claiming that it needed crucial repairs, but many believed that Lukashenko wanted the premises for himself. Belarussian ambassadors have been ordered to return to Minsk, and more than 130 officials have been put on a visa blacklist.

THE ban will not preclude Belarussians from using transit visas, however, promoting speculation that they could arrange overnight meetings in the EU. Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schüssel, presiding over his first General Affairs Council, warned that the Union would consider tougher action if Belarus further violated the Vienna Convention on international relations. Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Iceland and Norway said they shared the EU’s objectives. Poland, acting president of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said it had decided to maintain a dialogue with Lukashenko.

MEXICO and the EU formally launched free trade talks at their first joint council in Brussels. Trade Minister Herminio Blanco and chief trade negotiator Jaime Zabludovsky led the Mexican team. “For the EU, Mexico is a strategic partner because of the potential of its internal market and its privileged commercial position,” said the country’s trade ministry.

SCHÜSSEL reiterated his desire to start substantive EU accession negotiations early, despite the caution voiced by other ministers. He said that the applicants’ negotiating positions on the first sectors would be presented at the beginning of September, and claimed that other member states shared his objectives. However, French Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Moscovici warned his EU counterparts not to rush headlong into talks and asked them to “seek guidance for further work”. He said a decision should not be taken until autumn reports by the Commission on legislative and economic progress in the EU candidate countries had been completed.

LUXEMBOURG’s Foreign Minister Jacques Poos called on the EU to carry out an independent study of the impact that harmonising savings taxes could have on capital markets. “Tax harmonisation is one thing. Economic and financial realities, at a time of globalisation, are another,” he told ministers during an open debate on the Austrian presidency’s work programme. Ministers agreed to push ahead with Agenda 2000 talks, calling for an outline decision by December’s Vienna summit. It was clear, however, that the package would not be completed until next year. Both Germany and Spain stuck by their incompatible budgetary demands: Bonn said it wanted to pay less, while Madrid insisted current EU members should not lose out when central and eastern European countries joined the Union.

EU FOREIGN ministers insisted that a dialogue with East Timor’s leadership was “imperative”, following last month’s troika visit to the country. Portugal maintained its uncompromising demands for the country’s independence from Indonesia. Ministers also urged Nigerian leader Abdulsalam Abubakar to press ahead with reforms, hinting that they would take a “positive” decision on sanctions if the country acceded to international demands.